PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #17: Wetland Ecology. Presiding: E. Weiher.
Monday, August 6, 2001. 1:00 PM to 4:15 PM. Hall of Ideas H.
Effects of nutrients and hydrology on the assemblage of wetland plants.
FRASER, LAUCHLAN1, KARNEZIS, JASON1, KEDDY, PAUL2, 1 2
ABSTRACT- An important goal of community ecology is the prediction of assemblages of species for a given environment. Standardized screening of plant traits in the laboratory from a wide variety of species is one method to develop indicators of plant performance in nature. Hydrology and nutrients are two factors that have a strong control on wetlands. We screened a range of plants to determine (1) competitive performance and (2) performance at different water levels to use as predictive indicators of community assemblage under controlled artificially constructed wetlands. The results from the first screening test suggest that relative competitive performance is a good predictor of species abundance under different nutrient treatments. Preliminary results from the second screening test, hydrology-performance, indicate that the growth of species responds differently under different water level treatments. Ultimately, these hydrology-response values will be used to predict the performance of plants in an outdoor community microcosm study, with changing water levels as the major treatment.
KEY WORDS: wetlands, competition, Lythrum salicaria, fertility